BANK OF ENGLAND NOTES

Greymouth Evening Star, 26 December 1944, Page 5

BANK OF ENGLAND NOTES

CHECK’TO BLACK MARKETS. (Rec. 11.10) LONDON, Dec. 25. Bank of England notes of £lOOO sterling are being sold for £5OO sterling, and £lOO sterling notes are being sold for half their face value, according to the “Sunday Despatch.” This collapse in the value of big bank notes, according to the paper, is due to a fear that the Treasury, through the Bank of England, is about to launch an intensified campaign to get at hidden cash fortunes of black marketers. The Chancellor of the Exchequer rejected a proposal that all bank notes from 10/- up should be withdrawn, but he has not rejected a proposal that notes of £lO and more should be withdrawn anad invalidated after a certain date. The Bank of England has already stopped the issue and re-issue of all notes of £lO and upwards. This means that when a big note reaches the Bank it is held and a new note is not issued in its place. Already half the number originally issued have been scrapped. These regulations have not stopped black marketing, but most persons engaged in the black market now deal only in £1 notes. The paper adds that the calling m of all bank notes in Belgium was successful in rendering useless the fortune of black marketers, but the Chancellor of the Exchequer does not consider such a step necessary in Britain. _____